A leader of Alberta's separatist movement says some members of Premier Danielle Smith's United Conservative Party caucus have signed the petition looking to force a vote on the province quitting Canada. "I know of (UCP members of the legislature) that have signed the petition," Jeff Rath, a lawyer for Stay Free Alberta, the group organizing the petition campaign, said Thursday...
Alberta is at the centre of two major stories as the week ends -- Pierre Poilievre is in Calgary tonight waiting for his party's verdict on his leadership. Meanwhile Albertans who want out of Canada say they have the White House on their side and some of the things being said by Trump officials would seem to agree. Bruce and...
U.S. president accuses Canada of 'illegally' blocking certification of American jets. U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening to slap a 50 per cent tariff on Canadian aircraft and says his administration will "decertify" those planes, mentioning a series of jets by aerospace company Bombardier by name. In a post on his social media site, Truth Social, Trump justified his latest...
Avi Lewis has raised the most money in the NDP leadership race, suggesting that he is currently the clear front runner to replace Jagmeet Singh when the New Democrats choose their next leader on March 29. Fundraising data published today by Elections Canada, which includes all donations up to December 31, show Lewis raised $778,869, well ahead of his rivals...
As anger grows over the deployment of federal immigration agents in Minnesota, some in the state are calling for a novel solution — becoming Canada's 11th province. Jesse Ventura, the former professional wrestler who served as the state’s governor from 1999 to 2003, for one, pitched the idea last weekend. “Instead of Canada becoming the 51st state of America and...
This report includes the Nanos weekly tracking on accessible voters and qualities of a good political leader for the Conservatives and Pierre Poilievre respectively and compares data since Poilievre was selected leader of the CPC. Overall, the Conservatives trail the Liberals by a handful of percentage points. However, the proportion of Canadians who believe Poilievre has the qualities of a...
Between January 22 and 27, 2026, Abacus Data surveyed 2,498 Canadian adults as part of our ongoing federal political tracking. This wave lands at a politically consequential moment. Conservative Party members are set to gather in Calgary for a leadership review of Pierre Poilievre, while Prime Minister Mark Carney has just concluded a high-profile appearance at the World Economic Forum...
The Prime Minister’s speech at Davos was on Jan. 20. In the days since then, Donald Trump or his officials have: claimed, without evidence, that the Prime Minister had retracted the speech in a private conversation with the President; referred to the Prime Minister, for the first time, as “Governor” Carney; threatened to impose a 100-per-cent tariff on Canada in...
It’s been a while since Canada’s first ministers met against the backdrop of a good old-fashioned national unity crisis. But there is nothing good or old-fashioned about the national-unity cracks looming in 2026 for Mark Carney and the premiers. When one premier walks into the meeting denouncing “treason,” as British Columbia’s David Eby did, there’s a whole new level of...
The federal government posted a deficit of $26.4 billion for the first eight months of its 2025-26 fiscal year. In its fiscal monitor, the Finance Department says the result compared with a deficit of $22.7 billion for the same April-to-November period a year earlier. Revenue for the period totalled $317.2 billion, up from $311.3 billion a year ago, helped by...
The breakout Canadian star of Crave’s original hit series “Heated Rivalry” was back on home ice Thursday night. Hudson Williams – who plays Ottawa-born Shane Hollander – hit the red carpet at a gala for Canada’s media industry heavyweights, alongside Prime Minister Mark Carney. Stepping out together, Carney and Williams embraced, and after a flurry of photos, gave a joint...
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s well-crafted and eloquently delivered speech at Davos has been widely noted, and I want to start by offering some praise of my own. The Prime Minister is right to restate what many have said for years: Canada must become more self-reliant, less dependent and work with like-minded countries to advance our interests. Conservatives are, as always...
They’re just not that into you, Pierre. Ahead of his career-defining speech in Calgary at the Conservative Party of Canada’s national convention, that’s the message that a string of polls is telling the federal opposition leader. The big question for both delegates and his caucus is whether he’s even able to do something about it — and whether they want...
The consensus on Pierre Poilievre’s fate as leader of Canada’s federal Conservative Party is that he will sail through this weekend’s leadership review in Calgary. That a leader who lost the last election, lost his own seat in that election, and is unpopular beyond his own party can anticipate no trouble in a leadership review has effectively made the magic...
There’s always the chance that there will be a quick rerun of last year’s federal election, even within a matter of months. That’s a prospect that will be helpful to Pierre Poilievre over the next day or two. After that, it will make things a little tricky. For all the rough knocks that Mr. Poilievre has suffered over the past...
On June 18, 2012, doctors and other health care workers all across the country staged a walkout to protest the government’s changes to refugee health care benefits in Canada. Roughly two months earlier, the Stephen Harper government had announced that cuts were coming to the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP), which provides temporary health care coverage for refugees in Canada.
For a time, it was Kimberly Prost’s job to make sure only real terrorists appeared on the international sanctions list. Being on this list means being cut off from much of the global financial system and barred from much of the Western world. If you found yourself on such a list in error two decades ago — improperly accused of...
In the spring of 2001, a group of MPs resigned from the official Opposition Canadian Alliance caucus, in protest at the faltering leadership of Stockwell Day, to form the so-called “Rebel Alliance.” By fall, seven MPs established the Democratic Representative Caucus (DRC), led by their parliamentary leader, Chuck Strahl.
Conservatives are beginning to gather in Calgary for their national convention. It’ll start today and run through to Saturday; The Line will be covering it, so stay tuned for more. One of the items on the agenda, and a rather important one, is going to be a review of how Pierre Poilievre performed during the last federal election, which was...
Thousands of Conservatives will gather in Calgary this week with one key decision to make — to bolster or weaken their leader, Pierre Poilievre. Poilievre is the second leader of the modern Conservative party to face a leadership vote following an election defeat. Former prime minister Stephen Harper faced a review in 2005, after he lost the 2004 election to...
It’s always dangerous when a party leader has to reach three different audiences, each grading a different test. That’s what Pierre Poilievre faces Friday night. At the Conservative convention in Calgary, Mr. Poilievre’s speech will come just before delegates vote on his leadership. That’s normally when a leader plays to the room, hitting the notes the base wants to hear...
As an illustration of Canada’s relative irrelevance on the world stage, I always liked the story about external affairs minister Lester Pearson’s visit to president Dwight Eisenhower, an avid golfer. Pearson emerged from a meeting in disbelief that Ike hadn’t even heard of a pressing Canadian issue. “You’d think,” he muttered to an aide, “his caddie would have mentioned it...
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech at the Citadel of Quebec and the controversy it provoked gives us an opportunity to reflect on what is specific and even exceptional in our country’s history. I will argue here that, in judging Canada’s past, which Quebec nationalist circles reproach for conquest and assimilation, one must consider the tragic nature of universal history...
One of the more perplexing aspects of living through the Trump 2.0 era is knowing when to believe what the American president says. After all, it can be easy to dismiss a lot of what emerges from Trump: he is notoriously mercurial, seems highly persuadable and has a propensity to say some truly odd things. But part of learning to...
While we prognosticators are always cautioned to be wary of absolute, unqualified predictions in politics — especially in this era of “anything’s possible” — it is as safe as it can possibly be to say at this writing that Pierre Poilievre will be confirmed as leader of the Conservative Party at its convention in Calgary later this week. Poilievre will...
Mark Carney’s Davos speech appears to have caught Canadians’ attention. The Angus Reid Institute has a new poll out showing him with a 60-per-cent “positive” rating (to 34 per cent “negative”), up eight points since December. Spark Insights has him at 61 per cent. And Pierre Poilievre? Just 36 per cent rate him positively, according to Angus Reid; 39 per...
Later this week, Conservatives will gather in Calgary for their national convention, where Pierre Poilievre faces a mandatory leadership review on January 30. He is widely expected to win easily. The more interesting challenge the Conservatives face, however, is how to grow beyond the coalition they have today.
My mother was an amateur historian. Her love of history came from living in Quebec City in her youth, not far from the Plains of Abraham. In her back yard, there were cannon balls and musket shells from the French and British who fought in September 1759. She loved Quebec City, and believed it was an example to the rest...
The French have a whole vocabulary for a blunder — faux pas, gaffe, bévue — which may be why English borrows the words. And they are quick to spot them. They showed it when Prime Minister Mark Carney hugged Bonhomme, the Québec Winter Carnival mascot.
Canada is making a costly mistake in managing its relationship with the United States. Mark Carney’s Davos speech, widely praised abroad, is the clearest recent example. Canadians have been rattled by the aggressive approach the Trump administration has taken over the past year. There is no question that Canada needs to diversify trade and take concrete steps to protect its...
Much of this week and next week will see Conservative Party partisans gathering in Calgary at the party convention and in Ottawa to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Stephen Harper’s election and swearing-in as Canada’s 22nd prime minister. These will be two weeks for Canada’s conservative movement, filled with reflections on past successes and examining today’s challenges. Much of the...
I regret to inform you that it is necessary to pay attention to Steve Bannon because he has plans for Canada and, unfortunately, he has repeatedly shown that he can make bad things happen. Bannon will go down in history as the man who discovered the power of the “sh*tpost,” and who showed that an online army of incels and...
FOR MY PARTY—the Conservative Party of Canada—2025 was an annus horribilis. We suffered a string of strategic missteps, failed to break through to voters on the issues that dominated the national conversation, and paid the price in both public confidence and political momentum. I won’t revisit every episode here, but we must acknowledge the reality of a very difficult year...
Prime Minister Mark Carney has had a busy week. A major international speech at Davos that garnered plaudits around the world. An address to the nation designed to rouse Canadian patriotism and rebut U.S. President Donald Trump. An announcement of GST relief to steal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s thunder on affordability, one week before Poilievre faces a leadership review vote...
WHAT IF, IN THE RUINS of the liberal international order, the world is spiralling back not to the fascist 1930s, not to the gunboat imperialism of the late nineteenth century, but all the way back to the rule of warrior princes, and their predatory cliques, in early modern Europe?
As Canada warns travellers of food and electricity shortages in Cuba, experts say any move by the U.S. to overthrow the island's communist leadership would put Canada in a bind much worse than the aftermath of the American armed intervention in Venezuela. Two former ambassadors say they're confident Global Affairs Canada is preparing contingency plans for responding to the various...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is set to address his party faithful this evening in Calgary, in a speech that many anticipate will set the tone for the Tories heading into the next election. The party on Thursday kicked off its national convention, where delegates are expected to signal their support for Poilievre's continued leadership.
Trump officials have met with activists from the Alberta Prosperity Project, a separatist group that wants independence for its province. “Very, very senior” officials in the Trump administration have had secret meetings with far-right Canadian separatists trying to shake the foundations of the country. The covert meetings between high-ranking U.S. officials and the Alberta Prosperity Project come as a widening...
An Alberta First Nation is advising its band members to take precautions when crossing into the United States, even though centuries-old treaty rights should protect them. The Blood Tribe First Nation, located in southern Alberta near Lethbridge, says they’ve been informed that some of its members have been “stopped and even detained” by U.S. authorities while crossing the Canada-U.S. border...
Prime Minister Mark Carney and the premiers said Thursday they're maintaining a united front under the long shadow of the upcoming negotiations for the review of North America's key free trade agreement. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, in a reference to the viral Canadian TV show, said people "want there to be a heated rivalry between (Ontario Premier) Doug Ford and...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Prime Minister Mark Carney both say they’re open to alternate routes for a potential pipeline to get Alberta oil to Asian markets, which does not necessarily need to end at B.C.’s northwest coast.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she won’t demonize the roughly one million Albertans who are open to separation after B.C. Premier David Eby said Alberta separatists who went to Washington in search of political support are engaged in treason.
The leader of the Parti Quebecois and Ontario Premier Doug Ford are trading barbs after the latter said it would be a disaster for Canada if the sovereigntist party was elected. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is criticizing Ford, who for the past two days has been urging Quebecers to reject the PQ for the good of Canada. The issue of unity...
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith both said Thursday the United States needs to respect Canadian sovereignty following reports that leaders of the Alberta separatist movement met with American government officials seeking their support. But neither agreed with British Columbia Premier David Eby's description of those meetings as "treason." Eby, citing a report in The Financial Times...
Against the backdrop of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals rise in public opinion polls following his recent Davos speech and ongoing federal election speculation, rank-and-file Conservatives from across the country are gathering in Calgary to conduct Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s leadership review, debate party policies, and elect a new national council, the most powerful elected decision-making body within the party...
German submarine manufacturer TKMS has signed an agreement to team up with Seaspan Shipyards to support and maintain potential future patrol submarines supplied to Canada over the long term. The pact is conditional on TKMS winning a federal government contract to supply the Royal Canadian Navy with a fleet of new submarines.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Alberta’s leader to clearly denounce her province’s separatist movement, after revelations that independence activists met with officials in the U.S. President Donald Trump administration. The U.S. State Department confirmed the meetings took place, but described them as “routine” and said in a statement that “no commitments were made.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Canada's premiers huddled in a meeting room in Ottawa on Thursday, under the long shadow of the upcoming negotiations on renewing North America's key free trade agreement. Canada, the United States and Mexico are starting a review this year of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on trade, better known as CUSMA, and U.S. President Donald Trump...
Conservative leader asks convention delegates to give him another shot. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's fate will be put to delegates at the party's convention in Calgary on Friday. While those around him are confident he can avoid being turfed, the leader's loyalists are doing all they can to ensure he easily clears this must-win vote. Poilievre has been busy working...
A reported meeting between individuals in the Alberta separatist movement and White House officials amounts to "treason," British Columbia Premier David Eby said Thursday in Ottawa. Eby, citing a report in The Financial Times, told reporters before the first ministers' meeting on Thursday that it's completely inappropriate for a group to ask a foreign power for help in breaking up...
The Days Inn in west Edmonton has a large Canadian flag hung behind the front desk. Throughout the lobby, a visitor can’t escape the signs declaring that the hotel is “proudly Canadian owned and operated,” with red maple leaves to match.
Union leader says he hopes premiers encourage feds to 'relentlessly pursue' CUSMA renewal. The day Oshawa, Ont., autoworkers have dreaded for months has arrived, as GM Canada is poised to cut a shift at the city’s plant, costing over a thousand workers their jobs. Up to 1,200 workers are expected to complete their final shift on Friday as the company...
The head of an organization that represents Canadian chief executives questioned Mark Carney’s handling of the relationship with the White House, calling on the prime minister to focus on salvaging the North American trade pact. Article content Carney captured global attention — and annoyed President Donald Trump — with a speech at the World Economic Forum last week. The prime...
The Cree Nation of Mistissini, in Quebec’s northern Baie-James municipality, is under lockdown on Thursday morning after a fatal shooting. Chief Michael Petawabano of the Cree Nation of Mistissini issued a statement confirming the measure, “following a serious shooting incident that has resulted in multiple fatalities.” “The safety and security of community members remains our highest priority,” he said. As...
The leaders of Britain and China on Thursday called for a "strategic partnership" to deepen ties between their nations at a time of growing global turbulence as they sought to thaw relations after years of chill. Neither Prime Minister Keir Starmer nor President Xi Jinping publicly mentioned Donald Trump, but the U.S. president's challenge to the global order was clearly...
Advocates will be seeking a $500-billion credit facility to “bankroll the province” if an independence referendum succeeds, The Financial Times reports. United States government officials have held talks on three separate occasions with organizers of an Alberta separatist movement, according to reports. The information, which was published in the Edmonton Journal and the Financial Times, comes at a time of...
The Trump administration has held covert meetings with fringe separatists from the oil-rich Canadian province as a rift deepens between Washington and Ottawa.
The commander of the navy says there's no reason — in circumstances outside of war — to arm Canada's fleet of coast guard ships. And Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee tells CBC News that in the event of a conflict, there are potential ways the civilian vessels can be quickly given the equipment they need to defend themselves.
With Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre set to face a leadership review in two days, many of his MPs are publicly voicing support for his direction over the party. Poilievre is set to face a mandatory leadership review in Calgary at the party’s national convention on Friday following last year’s federal election loss. According to the party’s constitution, if a leader...
Canadian companies are coming under fire over their ties to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as U.S. President Donald Trump pursues a mass deportation campaign to expel vast numbers of immigrants. Canadian defence manufacturer Roshel and Vancouver-based companies Hootsuite and Jim Pattison Group are being raked publicly over their ties to the immigration enforcement agency -- especially in the wake...
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says he would have used different words to describe the changing global trade landscape than Prime Minister Mark Carney did on his recent trip to China. During his trip earlier this month — the first visit to China for a Canadian prime minister in eight years — Carney said during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li...
OTTAWA -- Ontario Premier Doug Ford and New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt both say they agree with Prime Minister Mark Carney's suggestion this week that "almost nothing" is normal right now with the United States.
TORONTO -- Doug Ford's Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario has banned media from its upcoming convention for the first time since he became the premier in 2018.
Ottawa and Seoul have signed a memorandum of understanding intended to bring South Korean auto manufacturing and investment to Canada, according to a document reviewed by The Globe and Mail. The MOU stems from the Asian country’s campaign to win a multibillion-dollar contract to build up to 12 submarines for the Royal Canadian Navy.
In remarks at Trump event, U.S. treasury secretary issues new message to Canada on looming trade talks. The Trump administration is once again ramping up its rhetorical pressure on Canada, with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issuing a fresh warning to Prime Minister Mark Carney over looming trade negotiations. Bessent was at an event in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump said he plans to announce his choice for chairman of the Federal Reserve on Friday morning, a long-awaited decision that could set up a showdown on whether the U.S. central bank preserves its independence from the White House and electoral politics.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Thursday she is running for governor of Minnesota, promising to take on President Donald Trump while unifying a state that has endured a series of challenges even before the federal government's immigration crackdown.
A federal appeals court ruled late Wednesday that the Trump administration acted illegally when it ended legal protections that gave hundreds of thousands of people from Venezuela permission to live and work in the United States.
DENVER (AP) -- Donald Trump lost his bid for reelection in 2020. But for more than five years, he's been trying to convince Americans the opposite is true by falsely saying the election was marred by widespread fraud.
The head of an organization that represents Canadian chief executives questioned Mark Carney’s handling of the relationship with the White House, calling on the prime minister to focus on salvaging the North American trade pact. Article content Carney captured global attention — and annoyed President Donald Trump — with a speech at the World Economic Forum last week. The prime...
The leaders of Britain and China on Thursday called for a "strategic partnership" to deepen ties between their nations at a time of growing global turbulence as they sought to thaw relations after years of chill. Neither Prime Minister Keir Starmer nor President Xi Jinping publicly mentioned Donald Trump, but the U.S. president's challenge to the global order was clearly...
Canadian companies are coming under fire over their ties to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as U.S. President Donald Trump pursues a mass deportation campaign to expel vast numbers of immigrants. Canadian defence manufacturer Roshel and Vancouver-based companies Hootsuite and Jim Pattison Group are being raked publicly over their ties to the immigration enforcement agency -- especially in the wake...
In remarks at Trump event, U.S. treasury secretary issues new message to Canada on looming trade talks. The Trump administration is once again ramping up its rhetorical pressure on Canada, with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issuing a fresh warning to Prime Minister Mark Carney over looming trade negotiations. Bessent was at an event in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to...
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Canada's "principled pragmatism" in foreign policy will be on full display next week in Greenland when she opens Canada's new consulate in the Danish territory with Inuit representatives attending and a coast guard vessel in the background. "We will continue to be principled and we will be pragmatic at the same time," Anand told...
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s widely praised speech last week in Davos was most notable for its frankness in admitting the hypocrisy behind Western support for a selectively enforced “rules-based international order.” But it also pulled no punches in calling out the coercive measures that great powers — including the United States — are increasingly employing to advance their interests.
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
The RCMP has handed out 23 awards for excellence to officers and employees in Nova Scotia for their performance during the April 2020 mass murders, in which a gunman impersonating a Mountie murdered 22 people in cold blood.
Library and Archives Canada (LAC) gets a lot of flak for its processing of Access to Information Act (ATIA) requests, especially for its long delays to respond. But lately they’ve been doing a few things right.
A thorough media scan reveals practically no discussion about this important escalation, which would put Canada among only a few Western navies (the United States, the United Kingdom, and France) that operate submarine-launched land-attack weapons.
In just over a decade, the Conservative Party of Canada has lost four elections, picked three new leaders, and turned on two of them when they failed to become Prime Minister. As the party votes on Pierre Poilievre’s future as leader of the Conservative Party, Front Burner speaks to Conservative insiders, Abacus Data CEO David Coletto and senior parliamentary writer...
Inflation in Canada has stabilized, but food inflation is continuing to rise. Food prices rose 5 per cent in 2025, and some items saw much larger increases – such as beef and coffee. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced some affordability measures this week – like an increase to the GST credit – aimed at lowering grocery bills.
The third and final installment in our January series of "Ask Me Anything", your questions for me about, well, about anything! And questions you sure had. We thought this would be just one show, but it's been three.
Election vibes are back on Parliament Hill as Prime Minister Mark Carney rides a post-Davos bump and Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre prepares for a critical leadership review. Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon joins Playbook Canada to discuss playing nice in the House, election speculation and floor crossers.
